Prairie Verbena

About the Prairie Verbena

One of the longest-blooming wildflowers in Texas - prairie verbena's purple clusters open with the bluebonnets and are often still going at first frost, pausing only in the worst of the summer drought and returning with every rain.

It hugs the ground in spreading mats of lacy, deeply cut foliage, rooting where the stems touch soil, and a healthy patch can carpet several feet of thin rocky ground. That habit makes it a favorite of both native-plant gardeners and the small butterflies that patrol low: few Texas natives pull in more skippers, buckeyes, and hairstreaks per square foot.

Each rounded cluster is a ring of small five-petaled trumpets opening from the outside in, so a single head carries buds, fresh flowers, and spent ones at once. The color runs from pink-lavender to deep purple depending on soil and sun.

It is a plant worth shooting on your knees: at ground level, with the mat rolling away toward the horizon, a good stand reads like purple ground fog over the caliche.